Review

Book: The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy
Authors: Mark Logue and Peter Conradi
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9780143178545
Publisher: Penguin

Adapting a book into a screenplay is as tricky a business as it could be. The screenplay writer walks on a razor thin margin and more often than none bear the brunt when the things go wrong. And things become more difficult when the book in consideration attains a cult status. The readers create an image in their mind and if that does not confirm with the adaptation on screen, they come out disappointed. Gone With The Wind, Godfather, Lord Of The Rings; each one of these all time greatest adaptations have a consistent list of detractors too. It is not easy to please (and agree to) every individual's imagery.

Keep this in mind and then imagine a situation where the book comes out after the film is released and appreciated. Isn't that a nightmarish situation for the writer? Ask Mark Logue and Peter Conradi.

'The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy' is the story of how Prince Albert Duke of York, who went on to become King George VI, ultimately got the better of a incapacitating speech imperfection with the help of Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, and the indefatigable assist of his Duchess. The book is engrossing retrospect at an era in royal history that’s normally associated with the affairs and abdication of Edward VIII instead of the ordinary and infinitely less glamorous life of his younger sibling.

In essence, it is also a biography of Lionel Logue with a focus on the period where he was instrumental in changing the fate of Albert. The primary research material for the book came from  diaries and letters in possession with the several members of the extended Logue family. In fact, it won't be an exaggeration to say that the book owes its existence to the film. Mark Logue, being the grandson of Lionel Logue, was contacted by film’s producers to help them out with research. When Mark was going through the research, he though he'll extend it a bit. He laid his hand on letters, diaries and photographs which bring fresh insight and additional material to the tale of the Duke of York and his stammer.

His successful transition from a man who struggles to address a simple line to a King that motivated his army against the Nazi might is due for the most part to one man: a self-taught Australian speech therapist 15 years older than the then Duke of York, named Lionel Logue. Snubbed and ridiculed  by the then English (and British) medical society a “quack”, Logue assisted his royal patient subdue his speech impedimenta, making him a great orator and king who, with his wife Elizabeth, firmly beside him, would turn into a rallying point for the people of the Empire, during the murkiest of hours of the WW II.

Logue and Bertie first met face to face in 1926 when the later went to consult Logue in his begrimed apartment somewhere in the dimly lit alleys of Harley Street that Logue had rented following his arrival from Australia. Bertie was finding it increasingly difficult to dispense his official engagements due to the stammer. In fact, in one such ceremonial occasion, an important address in front of thousands of people at the British Empire exhibition in Wembley in May 1925, broadcast around the empire and beyond, actually ended in ignominy as Bertie failed to speak a single word. It was at this juncture that Louge stepped in.

In many ways, the book offered a deeper insight into the persona of two men as well as the incidents. However, a few readers might be disappointed to find out that many a scenes in the movie actually never happened and that quite a few liberties have been taken as far as tenures of Prime Ministers and the actual therapy period is concerned. The book, among other things, also delve deeper into Logue’s childhood in Australia and his initiation into the field of theater and elocution and how it matured into a career in speech therapy as he got closely involved with soldiers with post-traumatic speech problems during World War I.

However, the real treat are the documents that have been included or featured. These includes an annotated copy of the September 3, 1939 speech given by the King from Buckingham Palace as Germany declared war on the Empire.

For commoners and students of history alike, the book remains a must read. There would be many, including me, who will question the story telling capability of the writer. And the jury is still out on whether the sub-text in question “How One Man Saved the British Monarchy” is bit on the hyperbolic side. However, that must not stop you from going through this extremely endearing piece of writing.